


Bark Park

by Pollydoodles



Series: The Pizza Dog Chronicles [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 04:36:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5953843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pollydoodles/pseuds/Pollydoodles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They’d taken Lucky to the park. </p>
<p>Well, strictly speaking, Bucky had taken the dog to the park; Steve had taken Bucky to the park and Darcy was keeping an eye on all three. They each came with their own set of potential trouble trigger points, and she had approximately ten different speed dials programmed into her phone to cope with that. </p>
<p>“Buck-“</p>
<p>Darcy threw out an arm across Steve’s waist as he started toward the other man, concern rising in his features as he began to move. She knew full well she couldn’t stop him if he wanted to go, but the sensation of her arm hitting his abs caught the words in his throat and made him glance down at her. </p>
<p>“Give him a chance, Steve.” Her voice was low but insistent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bark Park

They’d taken Lucky to the park. 

Well, strictly speaking, Bucky had taken the dog to the park; Steve had taken Bucky to the park and Darcy was keeping an eye on all three. They each came with their own set of potential trouble trigger points, and she had approximately ten different speed dials programmed into her phone to cope with that. 

“Buck-“

Darcy threw out an arm across Steve’s waist as he started toward the other man, concern rising in his features as he began to move. She knew full well she couldn’t stop him if he wanted to go, but the sensation of her arm hitting his abs caught the words in his throat and made him glance down at her. 

“Give him a chance, Steve.” Her voice was low but insistent. 

Bucky, who felt like he was a world away to Steve at that moment, was actually standing about ten foot away from them, stick in hand and Lucky at his side. Though his name had been uttered in a low voice and cut short, he’d caught it anyway on the wind and glanced over at them. He raised one hand in a semblance of a wave. 

“Who’s that, mister?”

Bucky’s attention snapped back to the kid in front of him, a scruffy ten year old with a mouthful of gum. 

“That’s my friend.”

They both looked back over at Steve, who was bouncing on the balls of his feet with nervous energy. He had a baseball cap jammed on his head in an effort to look inconspicuous. The fact that he was six foot odd of pure muscle squeezed into jeans and a hoodie, hanging out at the local park amongst regular sized people hadn’t occurred to him at all, and Darcy was biting her lip to keep from grinning as the people around them gave him sidelong glances and the occasional camera phone flash.

“That’s Captain America.” The kid said matter-of-factly, bending down to fuss Lucky, who gave him an enthusiastic cheek lick for his troubles. The boy laughed delightedly and rubbed at his wet face with his sleeve. 

“I guess so.” Bucky answered, bending down as well. He scratched the back of Lucky’s neck, getting up under his purple collar, and looked back over to the others. Darcy was fiddling with her phone. “His name’s Steve.” He added, unnecessarily. The boy glanced up at Bucky and digested that information thoughtfully. Lucky whined and put a paw up, trying to get his attention back to where it rightfully belonged. 

“Is he your dog, mister?”

“No.” Bucky frowned slightly at his answer, not liking the way it made him feel. He really liked hanging out with Lucky. It was nice not to have to worry that the things he said weren’t the wrong ones, or that he wasn’t saying enough words, or – Steve’s personal favourite – too much information. The dog didn’t care if he didn’t speak to him for a whole afternoon. 

“Oh. Whose dog is he?”

“My friend’s.”

“Captain America?” The kid pointed gracelessly at Steve, who pulled his baseball cap down further and jammed his hands in his coat pockets, whilst Darcy rolled her eyes at him. “Or that one?” His gaze – and outstretched finger – shifted to Darcy who wiggled her fingers in greeting. 

“No, different one.”

“You got a lot of friends, mister.” The boy sounded impressed. 

Bucky paused to consider that. Did he have a lot of friends? This child seemed to think that a count of three was a lot, but at home there were even more people than that. He counted them quickly. Banner, who talked to him sometimes, quietly and with patience; Tony who talked an awful lot more and with decidedly less patience; Natasha who talked to him sometimes in Russian which helped even though he couldn’t put a finger on why. That was another three already, double what the boy thought was impressive. 

And then there was Pepper, who hadn’t gotten mad when he’d panicked in the kitchen because the toaster was asking him questions he couldn’t answer. Seven. Jane, who was Darcy’s friend really, but didn’t seem to mind him trailing after Darcy when they worked down in the lab. Eight. Thor, who wasn’t around a great deal but liked to take Bucky to the gym to spar when he was. Nine.

“He’s a nice dog.” The boy’s words cut into Bucky’s thoughts and brought him back to the park. He blinked slightly and shook his head, a side-effect he suffered from sometimes when he’d had too much rolling around in his head to properly digest it all. Across the park, Steve stiffened, noticing the tell-tale habit, but managed to remain where he was. 

“He is.” Bucky agreed, and ruffled Lucky’s ears. The dog leaned into his leg as Bucky petted him, gazing up at the man adoringly. 

“I’d like a dog like that someday, but my mom says we can only have a cat.” The boy’s mouth twisted at the word cat and Lucky, who only knew a couple of words but definitely all the important ones, barked when he heard it. 

“I don’t like cats.” Bucky informed him. The kid gave him an approving look. 

“What is he?” Lucky grinned happily the way only dogs can, sandwiched between two people who were petting him from all angles. His pink tongue lolled from his mouth and he panted 

“He’s a dog.” Bucky said, confused by the question. 

The kid recalibrated quickly. “What kind of dog is he?”

Oh. 

“He is a yellow American Field Labrador.” Bucky repeated obediently from memory. Darcy had looked it up for him specially, using her laptop on the line. Barton said that his real breed was pizza hound, but Bucky knew now that was a joke. Sometimes he had trouble understanding Hawkeye, which made the other man laugh even more, and often ended with Steve thumping Barton. 

The boy nodded sagely, then noticed Bucky’s hand, glinting in the spring sunshine and still gripping the long-forgotten stick. Lucky followed the boy’s eye line and locked onto the stick. He started to wiggle in excitement. Darcy felt Steve tense at her side, and looked up to see the kid pointing at Bucky’s left arm. She placed her palm against his shoulder and, when she caught his eye flicker towards her briefly, she murmured “Just wait.”

“You gonna throw that, mister?”

Bucky looked down at the dog who was now visibly shaking in anticipation. Lucky’s brown eyes beseeched him to throw the damned stick.

“Guess so.” He felt the weight of the stick in his hand and tried to judge an appropriate distance to throw it. 

“Why’s your hand like that?” The kid had stepped up to Bucky’s side and was looking at it with interest.

“Not just hand.” Bucky informed him, and pulled his sleeve back to show more of it. “Whole arm.”

The kid’s jaw dropped, Steve put his face in his hands with an audible groan and Darcy pulled up the speed dial menu on her phone in preparation. 

“Cool.” The boy breathed out, eyes wide and shining with interest. “Can I touch it?” Bucky shrugged and held his arm out patiently. The kid touched the back of the shiny wrist shyly, then grew bolder as Bucky didn’t pull away. He grinned widely as the plates whirred and adjusted when he poked at them. 

“Hey Buck.” Steve appeared at his side. “We gotta go, man. Lunchtime.” Bucky looked up at him, and his stomach grumbled in a Pavlovian response to Steve’s words. He nodded. Darcy winked at the kid who still hadn’t taken his eyes off Bucky’s arm, even standing as he now was in Captain America’s literal shadow. 

“Say goodbye, Buck.” Darcy said as she dropped a hand to Lucky’s head, tickling him behind the ears. 

“Goodbye.” He said, and the boy grinned up at him. 

“You’ll come back, right?” Bucky looked askance at Steve, who threw an appraising look at Darcy. 

“Yes.” She said, on Bucky’s behalf. “He’ll come back, with Lucky.” The man looked at her hopefully. “Maybe…” She mentally checked diaries and fixtures in her head. “Maybe on Thursday?” 

“That’s two days time.” Bucky said solemnly to the kid. 

“Come on, Buck. Lasagna awaits.” Darcy chuckled and linked her arm with his. 

Trailing behind Darcy and Bucky, Steve considered that having Lucky around was, for the most part, pretty good for his friend. Maybe Barton wasn’t as simple as he tried to make out.


End file.
